Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has not wasted any time bringing in the players he wants since purchasing Chelsea in 2022, spending over €1bn on players.
Over the three windows that the American has been in charge at the Blues, he has brought in 28 different players, four of whom have already left the club permanently.
Boehly has signed some of Europe’s top talents, such as Christopher Nkunku and João Félix, however, the mogul has also been mainly focusing on bringing in Europe’s top youth talent, including Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk being two fine examples.
And it looks like he could already be dipping back into the transfer market for another one of Europe’s most promising young stars.
Who are Chelsea interested in signing?
According to Football Insider, Chelsea have set their sights on Strasbourg midfielder Habib Diarra, having blocked his move to top-flight rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers during the summer.
It's thought the west London outfit view the 19-year-old as a top future talent, and one that Boehly would like to bring to the club “sooner rather than later," per their 'well-placed source.'
Why do Chelsea want to sign Habib Diarra?
Chelsea have a very different relationship with Strasbourg than they do with any other club, this is because the French side is owned by BlueCO, Boehly’s consortium.
This means that the 49-year-old owns both clubs and can use this to his advantage.
This has already been the case as new summer signing from Santos, Angelo was sent on loan to Strasbourg less than a month after joining the club.
Despite only being 19 and born in 2004, Diarra has already broken into the first team, and since making his first-team debut in 2021 he has made 37 appearances, scored three goals and provided three assists while also accumulating over 2,000 minutes of game time.
His quality performances haven’t gone unnoticed by his national team, as after representing France at U16, U18 and U19 level, Diarra finally got the call-up to the French U21 side by new manager Thierry Henry, and on the 7th of September, he made his debut for the U21s.
All this game time at such a young age could be incredibly important for a Chelsea side that is severely lacking it, as Chelsea by far have the youngest average age in the Premier League at 23.7.
The dynamic midfielder, valued at £9m by Transfermarkt, has proven himself to be incredibly creative for his sides, last season he created six big chances – the joint-highest in the squad – whilst he also averaged 0.9 key passes per game and successful dribbles per game, which he ranked fifth in the squad for both metrics, per Sofascore.
This shows how impactful he has been to Strasbourg in allowing them to create chances and move the ball up the pitch into an attacking position.
This is also reinforced by his stats, according to FBref, the French "big talent" – as lauded by scout Jacek Kulig – ranks in the top 3% of all midfielders across Europe for progressive carries and carries into the penalty area, per 90.
Furthermore, he also ranks in the top 9% for progressive passes received, the top 20% for successful take-ons and the top 28% for shot-creating action per 90.
These stats further reinstate how important Diarra is to his side's attack, all-around play and progression up the pitch, while also proving how good of an acquisition and coup he would be for Chelsea.
